More than 300 heavily armed men suspected to be members of the Nigerian radical group Boko Haram have attacked the locality of Gorsi Tourou in North Cameroon, burning churches and looting property.

These villagers, who have fled Gorsi Tourou village in far northern Cameroon, are praying for God’s protection from the radical Islamist group Boko Haram. They escaped their village after a group of more than 300 heavily armed men began looting, burning houses and destroying property.

Village chief Moussa Sambo, who was invited by Cameroonian authorities to the capital Yaounde, told VOA the invaders have been on the hills of Gorsi Tourou for five days. He said it all started on Friday at about 5:00 p.m. when there was a heavy downpour. He said heavy gunfire was heard and there was total panic, adding the invaders looted food, money and goods.

Sambo said some of the attackers had taken position on the hills surrounding their village and could monitor the movements of Cameroon’s military, which arrived about two hours later and engaged the militants in battle.

Cameroon’s minister of communication and government spokesperson, Issa Tchiroma, tod VOA that there were many casualties, including assailants, a Cameroonian soldier and a villager. He also said soldiers drove back the attackers. “Our defense forces responded and one of their vehicles and a war weapon of Kalashnikov type was seized. Defeated, the attackers went on the run and disappeared within the Nigerian territory,” he said.

But Moussa disputed the claim that the militants fled back to Nigeria. He said Cameroon soldiers were not able to get to the top of the hills where the assailants were hiding.

When VOA asked Issa Tchiroma if he was certain that the assailants had left,he said he was calling on citizens to report any suspicious activities in their vicinity. “I call on you fellow citizens, be they elite, traditional rulers, peasant, farmers, drivers to watch out and accompany our authorities and forces and defense forces in bringing the information they need in terms of intelligence and denunciation and help them to successfully conduct their mission assigned them,” he said.

Seven bodies believed to be killed Boko Haram members were buried in the village by Cameroonian soldiers, while other corpses were taken away by the militants to the bushes.

It is the first attack by suspected Boko Haram fighters on the village,situated some 400 kilometers from where the violent Islamist group has previously operated within Cameroon. Some believe the latest violence indicates the group is looking for other entry points into Cameroon, after the government declared war on Boko
Haram and deployed troops to areas where the militants attacked in the past.

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About beegeagle

BEEG EAGLE -perspectives of an opinionated Nigerian male with a keen interest in Geopolitics, Defence and Strategic Studies

Boko is not yet hitting Cameroon hard, when it happens, Cameroonian army will sweat. Iraqi army just ran away from battle yesterday as Islamic insurgents take over cities, heading towards Baghdad…600 Iraqi Cobra APCs did not stop them.

Best way to defeat 2014 insurgents of this Al-Qaeda class is to have an army that is very mobile, present almost everywhere, and have heavy infantry firepower. Anything less than that, national armies get disgraced by mere insurgents, Mali is one good case study.

Meanwhile, Nigerian army is still sweating at home. My salute goes to our gallant soldiers who have fallen in battle by Boko Haram’s bullets, the bullets 99% of Nigerians are not courageous enough to face. R.I.P Nigerian war heroes in the north east.

Thank you. Let me just add for the records that the 7th Division as currently deployed, motivated and led will not make any difference to our fortunes in this campaign. I am sorry to be playing wet blanket again However no diagnosis can be positive for any illness.
We have dull blown indiscipline and lack of motivation in the AOR. Immediate rotation of personnel out/in and resigning of aggressive operations backed by sustained unrelenting air surveillance/ strikes is what is needed.

Oga augustine i go with you on this. Cameroun should brace up for more attacks. But then, i think there will be a major offensive soon. Maybe after the girls are released. Chad, cameroun and Nigeria needs to collaborate on this. The attack should come from 2 fronts with enough mobility and firepower supported with adequate air support. It may not eradicate boko haram completely, but it will destroy their ranks and deal a blow on their will to fight. I am just happy that cameroun is responding.

I am starting to doubt the quality of US military training. It seems the foreign soldiers they train often get their behinds kicked:
1) South Korea
2) South vietnam
3) mali
4) iraq

I don’t know how they did the selection of the new iraqi soldiers, but I don’t think they did a good job at all. Although they had to create the iraqi army in less than 7 years. The iraqi army of today is one of the youngest on earth. I would advise the americans to look for the former iraqi soldiers who served under saddam (although they fought weak-heartedly against the US invasion ) and have them retrain and assume control of the young army.

The new Iraqi army was formed before the Shia-led government took over.

The US created and trained the Iraqi Army, paid for by US tax payers.

The US decided to exclude Baathists and most former soldiers.

What Prime Minister Malawi seems to be suggesting with his “conspiracy” theory is that the Sunni units in Northern Iraqi abandoned their posts without a good fight.

Either way, it’s the resources that was poured into the Syrian conflict by the GCC states that has create a formidable foe called ISIL.

Turkey and Jordan host training camps for Syrian rebels. The US runs a training camp in Jordan.

So, ISIL is trained, well equipped, and now has a lot of experience on fighting conventional forces.

They will be defeated, but nations need to think carefully about supporting rebellions in foreign countries.

I am particularly disappointed in the role that Turkey played or is playing in the Syrian conflict. Letting a rebel force train in your territory, then moving on to fight next door is not cool. Turkey could have avoided the politics of religion.

This guy as far as I am concerned was merely creating an environment for Iranian intervention which is already underway. The US defence establishment now finds itself strangely allied with IRGC and Quds forces in order to contain this Sunni ISIL militia. This is dream come true for the leaders of Iran as they are now a confirmed regional power.
Apart from high level geo political manipulation there is also quality of military leadership with lessons for us here and it is not just about quality of military training. You cannot teach motivation and sacrifice. When the barbarian tribes were defeating the great roman empire I imagine some people then were also erroneously thinking that it was a question of the quality of roman soldiers whereas it was not. The empire was already damaged from the inside by the kind of impotence that comes from corruption and self seeking leadership. Contrast this Iraqi army awash with high end American weapons which we love so much here with the grim determined Sri Lankan one going against the Tamil Tigers who had less to work with but were committed and spartan in their outlook.

The Iraqi PM is not stubborn. Cunning and acting at the behest of Iran he is. There is some skills deficit in the Iraqi army that however does not fully explain the untidy withdrawal from this strategic region. The Iranian IRGC and Al Quad brigades have now fully assumed positions in Iraq fighting against ISIL which everyone suspects the PM wanted all along. Most unprojected in all the calculations now is that the Kurdish Pershmaga militia has taken over most of the oil fields and will eventually be powerful negotiation participants in the developments that unfold. This problem is classic combination of global terrorism and nation state stability when composed of two or more religious/tribal tendencies, in this case Shia/Sunni against considerations of democratic terms limited to 4 or 5 years.

Cameroon should have called in Nigerian troops for back up.
It is in both our interests to eradicate boko haram. And Nigeria has a lot more experience than cameroon, so they should not be too proud to call Nigerian soldiers for back up.

Our guys aim is to destroy boko haram, wherever they find boko haram. Don’t you think it would be a very positif thing for the 7th division operations if those 300 terrorists were killed ? In what does it matter that they are in cameroon, they will try later to find their way to one of our vllages and kill and rape our civilians, men and women and children. So I think if the cameroonians and our troops had a mixed team then they could have destroyed these terrs completely. Our problem has always been that the terrorists hide in foreign countries, which makes it difficult to go and strike the terrorists. I think, if we were given the opportunity to fight alongside cameroonian army, the results would have been noticeable. But I understand what you are saying, just disagree that our hands would be too full to go and engage the esame ennemy which we are fighting.

I just wonder when the era of mutual-mistrust, mis-perception and unexpressed ill-feelings will be over in Nigeria-Cameroon affairs! What could it have possibly cost the Cameroonian military authorities to carry the Nigerian side along in making such an offensive?

Perhaps the bad guys could have been rounded up with heavy causalities on BH? Obviously a bilateral military operations will be inevitable in the days to come, if both countries really mean to win this intractable war on terror.

Reports say Uk want to provide tactical training to our soldiers, anoda says we have set up an external intelligence unit for boko haram n finally a flighy simulation centre for West Aftica will be set up in Lagos by 2015. pls check online for da links.

Oga Beegeagle, where is our Nigerian army ‘French Foreign Legion Brigade’ ? I know it never existed but should have been created long ago. Nigeria is English speaking but surrounded by French speaking countries, our eyes should have opened long ago to build an inter-armed forces brigade of 5,000 soldiers, sailors, and pilots who speak perfect French that we can use for overt and covert ops, confrontational or collaborative as the need arises.

How do we team up with Chad, Cameroon , Niger Republique now? Few interpreters, poor flow of communication, effect on joint ops. Nigeria should learn to think in advance, America has many thousands of soldiers of all ranks who speak perfect Spanish to do whatever with Mexico as friend or foe.

Israeli Hebrew language nation flew F-16 and F-15 jet fighters to blow up Iraqi nuclear reactor in operation Babylon 1981, flying en-route Iraq over Jordan, the Arabs radioed them to ID friend or foe, the Israelis replied in perfect Arabic with Saudi tongue accent and said they are Saudi Arabian air force jets, then further flying over Saudi Arabia, the Arabs there radioed for ID and the Israeli pilots replied again in perfect Arabic and said they were Jordan’s air force jets. Iraqi nuclear reactor was blown into pieces.

Oga Augustine, you remember recently that a French language training school/regime was set up by the NA to brush up on the French language, although I am not sure if just for the officer corps or for particular troops. But I think they have identified French language training as paramount to future deployments and interoperability in the West African sub-region and further afield.

Oga Augustine and Oga igbi, u have raised 2 valid points! Why a good command of french wasn’t made a requisite in our defence policy makes me wonder! The Israelis mastered arabic, the West russian and the Soviets english and we have french speaker all around us and we just woke up to it! We must make it a requirement and if we hope to operate in Chad, Niger, Sudan, Mali, Burkina faso, Guinea, Gambia, Senegal etc then we add Hausa/fulfude! Add to that list swahili, arabic, portuguese and spanish if we have plans to be relevant in the rest of Africa!
Of course we can’t have every member of our security apparatus having multiple language skills but it must be a requisite for all members of the NIA, some DMI, SF(army, navy and airforce) and one must have skill in at least one of these languages if he is to get past a certain rank or get an international mission depending on his competence and the area of assignment. Of course the skill should come after basic combat and leadership skills!
As for the inter operatibility with our neibours, it can only be strengthened as its a step in the right direction! However, we must have a liaison-joint command structure in place as well as joint training! Without this, blame trading and exchange of fire is what it will come down to with time!

As for the Iraqi military and ISIL, there is so much u will know with time! However, I thinks that the fighting spirit of the Iraqi soldier is not in doubt, I’d say that the generals who gave the RETREAT ORDER have the answer to our questions and it has nothing to do with the equipment and training of the Iraqi army! It is calculated to pressure the PM Al Maliki!

As for S korea in Oga Igbi’s list, is it the pre 1950 S korean army or the one of 2014?

We are at luck, Nigerians are everywhere in the world and therefor Nigerians speak every language on earth, so why not recruit some Nigerians who speak a perfect french ?
On an other note: yes I was talking about the pre-1950’s South Korea.

My Ogas…again my one cent: weapons don’t win wars, men do. Those of you that are bashing American training and weapons should remember that History speaks for its self. It is American training and weapons that have produced:
south korea, Japan, Taiwan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore.
these are countries 50 years ago were worse than Nigeria economically but today are industrial giants. While it goes without saying that I am pro-American, I am so based on results on the ground. I said all that to say this:
With the right weapons, our soldiers need motivation from our government, support from the Nigerian people, Proper COIN training and good military leadership.

Ogas you are all missing the point
What South Korea, Japan, Taiwan,, Singapore (abeg forget Saudi Arabia). all have in common is strong, intelligent and dedicated, nationalist leadership. They were mostly dictators, anti democrats and so on but they built very strong institutions. They all emphasised education and self reliance, and most importantly they used US assistance to THEIR OWN benefit. Japan has used the pacifist constitution to maintain US protection while building one of the strongest militaries on the planet, their defence industry is one of the most advanced yet they do not export equipment (one of the key ways to subsidise a defence industry) this is because they have partnered with the US by using their highly skilled and educated workforce. Ditto Taiwan, that has developed using the US Navy to deter China, Singapore a tiny economically unviable island of coolies and domestic workers is an industrial powerhouse through a rigid leader. South Korea used the Us and the DMZ to keep N. Korea off their back while they used IMF loans to build their industries.
Now compare this to Mali, Iraq. despite the funds poured in the armies dissolved. Because their leadership was obssessed with self enrichmnent and perpetration in power. they did not build the institutions needed to sustain a country or a military. Mali will send troops to be trained but once trained would not follow up with the necessary doctrinal amendments.
now in Africa compare them with Rwanda. Again Rwanda has good (in a fashion) leadership that has a strategic vision for the country both economically and defence wise. One might disagree with Kagame’s way of going about it and his oppression of critics but he has skillfully used the US to train his Army, the west to sustain his economy, all the time doing exactly what he wants. Likewise Ethiopia. again a dictatorship but they have used US funds and resources to fight their enemies in Eritrea and Somalia.
I am not a fan of US training, but the main point is that one can make use of what they have to offer if you have an intelligent understanding of what you want and how to get it

Sorry my Ogas, but u guys have me confused! Common sense will tell u that its way too early to judge the Iraqi army and definitely not JUST on the bases of the happenings of the resent past! And definitely not when disaffected Gen under the patronage of fade up Sunni heavy weights sponsored by the wahabis decided to pull their troops from the theatre to mount pressure on Al Maliki to run an inclusive gov! Note to mention too few support components in the air and artillery. This is an army IN BUILDING! Even the M1A1s received, how much have been inducted and how long have they been operational? Haba and all of a sudden US training is junk!
The Mali mentioned, have u cared to ask how many they were vis the area of operation or the weapons the had vis the weapons the rebel had smuggled from Mr Qadaffi’s looted arsenal? By the way, the Russia and Finland both employed tactical retreat as a tactics to draw enemy force in, stretch their logistics to breaking point then pounce on them with results that today we called master strokes! Who say it had to do ONLY with WESTERN TRAINING! So what about us when we 1st tried to land in Freetown in 1997/8? Or the SBS unit that got ambushed in Basra 2003? Bring it back home, our boys who pulled out when the ran out of ammo must have been US trained too!

I thin it is pretty obvious that you are desperate to clean the image of US training.
You can not compare losing a major town and a major base which was fortified with the latest weapons to a failed deployment or to being captured in ennemy territory. In this world it is not everythings which are equal. The fact remains that those guys in iraq are no soldiers. Which means: bad leadership, bad training, bad selectivity. I love many things US: their movies, facebook, their music, their slangs, but their trainig doesn’t is inadequate. They rely too much on the firepower which they have and which the guys they are training can only dream of. Giving US military training to countries such as iraq is like giving to a begger the same survival training as those bill gate gave his son.

I’m not pro West or East, I’m pro 9ja (u all know that) but let’s not be carried away by sentiments based on a partial view just because it fits ones narrative (this reminds me of all them western media)! Uganda, Rwanda, Morocco, Egypt, Israel, S korea, Jordan, Japan etc are benefit constantly from US training! How come we select only Mali and now Iraq for case study? By the way, the Sri Lankan we taut we constantly mauled by the Tamil Tigers up until the mid 2000s and suddenly they are the world foremost experts in asymmetric warfare! Na wa o! WITHOUT TAKING ANYTHING FROM THEM, I’d say the Indians won them that war! If it had been in the strategic interest of India, bros, Colombo would still be in a state of war

As for economic power una the make me laugh o! Yes we have a lot of failed experiment under American custody! Apart from the corrupt practices and absolute backwardness of some of these economies, U win some and u loose some! Remember, it was an experiment, adapting a purely western model to societies that barely had the minimum required blocks to build a society! These were models that worked in other societies both Western and Eastern! The US practically raised the economies of Western Europe and their allies in the east, Australia, Japan and S Korea inclusive! Check the rise of the Chinese economy before and after the sign MFN (and. Later PNTR in 2000) agreement since 1980 with the US! Same thing with Japan and the so called Asian Tigers! Do u know the extent of damage the world suffered economically as a result of WW2? With what would Japan have grown it post war economy? Have u heard of any Japanese natural resource apart from their ever industrious population? Therefore, on what bases can u say that the raise of these economies had nothing to do with the US?

First of all, you are pro-US, second of all check your list and be factual.
“Uganda, Rwanda, Morocco, Egypt, Israel, S korea, Jordan, Japan “,:
-Egypt has had some common drills with the US, that doesn’t qualify as US training egyptian army.
-Rwanda ?, I am pretty sure Nigeria has more to do with thei training than the US, I may be wrong though. But still, in which occasion did you test the US training provided to them ?

Israel trains itself and has common trainings partnership with the US, which means the israeli actually share knowledge with the US, that doesn’t qualify as US training the israeli.
Uganda ? Once again, all that was archieved by the Ughandans was done before any US involvement.
South Korea once had the opportunity to test its US military training, and it got rapidly overwhelmed by north korea, that is why the US came and intervened. Up to today, the US has military presence in south korea.
Japan ? Are you kidding me ? Did you do any research at all, or are you just going to post random countries and claim them as us trained ?
And once again Japan grew its economy on its own, not with US help. the Japanese are a proud and patriotic people who would always thrive to be the best at whatever they do. Don’t come and claim their struggle and success as US made. The fact still remains that US training is junk. I hate to say good stuff about the britts but their is much better than the US’s. The Russian one is very good as well. But the US one I think anybody can do without. I also have faith in the Nigerian military training which has produced soldiers who made the country proud.

On the other hand have u guys quickly 4gotten that the pre 1990 era was called the COLD WAR and the INTEREST ruled the day? Survival and defeating the East was the in thing and deals had to be made! Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not a West fan boy but I’m pragmatic! The last time I checked, there was a NEW WORLD ORDER and democracy is ‘SUPPOSEDLY’ the in thing! If u don’t like that u can go be Chavez’s Venezuela or Kim Jung Un N korea and co if u like! Of course a lot of the so called darlings of the West are Bastions of democracy however, the matter strategically and even when their democratic credentials are up and short, they have strong and VISIONARY LEADERS who know how to dance! Need I remind u that up till the 1st NATO bomb landed in Libya, the Europeans were still DEALING with Mr Qadaffi?

Finally, its common knowledge that China is the next super power and it would be stupid not to connect meaningfully with them! They offer deals that the West will s**t themselves just thinking of it! However, it would be madness to think that they ‘LOVE US’! In fact, if they did, they would want us to have strong institution, visionary leadership, the rule of law and other ingredients that makes for a good society! Thus the word of the play is INTEREST! STRATEGIC INTEREST plan and simple! Have u looked @ their relationship with the Burmese lately? Have u seem their claims in the S China Sea (over lapping those of long standing allies like Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia)? Have u noticed their response to the Sudan/S sudan conflicts or the Ukraine/ Russia crisis? Its dictated by INTEREST plan and simple! And the Algerians, Indonesians, the Indians we are so fund of naming understand this! Even Burma understands that u can’t go far without meaningful rapport with both sides! Like Oga Peccavi pointed out, all these dudes knew what they wanted and had a bargaining chip of strategic importance! When will we wake up to theses realities? When? By the way, the Americans and the Iranians are comparing note on Iraq while Israel and the Saudis have been exchanging ideas on Syria! Who would have imagined that? Had someone muted it, who would have believed our report!

oga ifiok, slow down please. you are just running from pillar to post. one minute is about US training, the next minute is about the US economy. forget about all these COLD WAR, CHINESE ECONOMY or STRATEGIC INTERESTs. The contention here is about US training and how valid it is against harsh reality.
forget about tactical withdrawal and tactical retreat. one cannot compare the Russian or Finnish combat situation with that of the Malians and Iraqis.

coming back to the american training and style of fighting, i will have to agree a bit with oga igbi. american style of fighting depends too much on firepower. overwhelming firepower to completely paralyze the enemy. it has never been down to their individual infantryman.

yes, one might argue that with their resources, their grunts don’t have to overwork or absorb casualties like other military . but its this same fighting doctrine that makes 3rd party armies terrible in combat. they emphasize too much on firepower. lets take a look at the Vietnamese conflagration in the early 70s.
during the 1972 north Vietnamese campaign (the Easter offensive) the north Vietnamese literally split the south in two, but for the application of superior US power (followed by the sustained linebacker II), they would have gone off to capture the capital. albeit, this wasn’t even part of the campaign objective.
by ’75, the ARVN, who had the fourth largest army in the world then, where completely at a loss with maintenance and spare parts problems.

were you had the iron divisions of the PAVN (north Vietnam), the south, with the exception of some ranger units, where counting on B-52s and full airpower to sustain their campaign. their first real trial came in Laos, and they failed miserably. they went on to lose their country. today there is no south Vietnam. a nation that a one time had the 4th largest army in the world!! incredible!!!

this shouldn’t come as a surprise, during WW2, gen Patton commented that the artillery was everything and made the absolute difference in US army operations. the same situation was replicated in the Korea war. not taking anything from the Americans, but their resources cannot be matched by any other military in the world. so countries receiving US training should be very quick to ‘indigenize’ their own doctrine. without doctrine, an army is just a mob, or best, a militia.

as for the Israelis, they had Jewish brigades that fought with the British army during the 2nd world war. their pioneer flyboys had a strong influence from Ashkenazi Jews in Europe. so please remove Israel from your list. they carry out joint exercises, nothing more. as of the late 70s, the Americans where still begging the Israelis to establish joint training with their air force and army.